DR Day 2: Coming "home"

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

For some time I've felt regret and a little shame that I've lost that inner calm, I suppose in a way forgotten what I learned here in the DR the last time. With the mad busyness that has been my life lately, where is that gentle patience, that discipline, that renewed sense of purpose I had 2 years ago?

It is the first quiet time and how different it is from the last time (for me)! It seems I have learned what it is to find peace and joy in whatever circumstance, at least I don't have to "relearn" that. Last time I could barely concentrate, as I was so frustrated and distracted by the heat and humidity and especially the bugs. I suppose it's one thing to know that it is possible and to be able to overcome physical distractions and concentrate on God and His word, but it's yet another to discipline myself and do it regularly. I must hush for a while in order to get to this place, and I simply don't quiet down easily or often enough.

I slept pretty well last night even though, unfortunately Dale did not (again). At least he didn't let it get him down, as he even helped Carmen with the dishes :)

Breakfast was delicious as always - boiled eggs, little croissant-like bread, fruit and coffee. Jeff slept pretty well, which surprised me, as he can't sleep on just any mattress and these are pretty rough!

The kids came for a summer class this morning, even if it was only a few minutes before their class. They have a big exam they have to pass to graduate high school and for college in a week. It was so good to see everyone- Nataniel, Jeffrey, Ranger, Cristopher, Angel, Jailinne, Graisy, Nene y Ariel. Hopefully they come up more often! Also, Cristo and Enyer came from the Children's Home :)

We are split into 4 groups- I'm in the D group with Clayton Whitbeck, Garrett Derengowski, Emily Kaissling and Trisha Mellor. I think it's going to be a great group!

Today I just opened to Jeremiah 31 and read. Wow, it was very touching- God's everlasting love for me never fails (just like Israel) - she strayed and was disciplined and brought back. I long to come back and be disciplined, to experience His love again at a deeper level. He is not angry with me, rather He is compassionate, comforting and longs to draw me near, which is right where I yearn to be.

DR: Day 1 - Arriving in the DR, meet the crew

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Miami Airport hotel:
Someone's alarm woke me up at 6:40am, so I showered and was ready at 7, even though we didn't need to be in the lobby until 9. I felt very dehydrated, so I went to Subway and drank a few glasses of water and some coffee. I was tempted by their eggwhite sandwiches, but wanted to wait for everyone else and once we were through security and at our gate. I chatted with my mom who was on her way to work, which was really nice since I hadn't had a chance to talk with her the night before.

We all got through security without much ado. The agent was from Kearney but was a native Spanish speaker. She was extremely nice. We got to our gate with time to spare but a bird had hit the plane and damaged the nose, so we switched gates. Imagine my surprise when we walked down to the exact same gate we flew out of in 2013, with Cafe Versailles right there! So of course, I had to get some cafe Cubano and pasteles de queso y guayaba (guava cheese pastries) for everyone to share! Yum!

Now we're on our way to the Dominican and the views from the plane are fabulous! I never take pictures from the plane, but I couldn't help myself.

I cannot believe that so much has already happened and so little time has passed!! We have met a new missionary, Norm, and some of the new interns: Mollee, Lauren and Monica (rode with us) and the rest later: Andrea, Joan (pronounced Jo-ahn, it's a guy), Emma and John. The do EVERYTHING - lay down the rules, organize things, etc. We got to see Chad and Jill, Hope and even "Washy" who no longer goes by that since he's the driver, not "guachiman". He just goes by Darlin, his given name. Later on in the trip we would see Laura Beth, Cory and their children Harrison and Greyson and we would also meet the night watchman, Jorge, Glen, another missionary, Paul and his wife Barbara who are co-directors of the Children's Home and Ryan and Sandra (Sandy) who run the Manna Christian Center in Rio San Juan and are also in charge of Sunday worship services.

Lauren, Monica, Mollee (interns)

Monica (intern), Hope (missionary), Alisa (cook, daughter of head cook, Carmen), Joan (intern), Norm (missionary) and Emma (intern)

Norm (missionary), Porfi (in charge of the Children's Home and our host), Darlin (driver, formerly "Washy" the night watchman - "guachiman")

Jill and Chad (missionaries)

Laura Beth, Cory and their children Greyson and Harrison

Sandy and Ryan, directors of Manna Christian Center in Rio San Juan and Sunday worship services

Porfirio (Porfi), Carla and their children Daniel (Dani) and Abby

Children's Home - staff and children (Paul and Barb, the codirectors, are on the far right)

Our missionaries/hosts are Porfi and Carla who I know well from the last time. They are new at hosting, so this will be good experience for them! We are sad, of course that Jeff Reese and Keely Williams, who were our hosts last time, are both in the States this time. Hopefully Keely will be up for a visit to Southwest in the fall though!

The famous Daihatsu was a bit crowded, as there are 23 instead of 18 of us like last time. It did have a new metal roof so there would be no flapping canvas to hold as we rode. Unfortunately, however, there would be no straps to hold so we mercifully could stand and make space on the benches. Here is a little video of us riding from the airport: https://youtu.be/ECC42BTPPuI

We got to know Norm a bit on the ride. He seems very nice and is pretty funny with a dry sense of humor. He warned we were not allowed to throw/hand out things from the Daihatsu, as he ran over a kid who was trying to get a piece of candy and last week he ran over someone else, but "that's another story." We don't quite know what to believe or think!

After a ride that seemed much longer than we remembered, we arrived at the Manna compound in Bobita. We gratefully piled off, helping to get all our luggage down of course, then headed to the dorms to stake out a bed and set up. A fitted sheet was all that was needed, but it was a little tricky to put on with the mosquito net.

After getting set up, it was dinner time and the food was just as amazing as we remembered from last time. Dinner was moro (rice and pidgeon peas), yuca frita (fried yucca root, like potatoes) and salad. We didn't even have to do dishes/chores yet! After dinner, we played volleyball. It was pretty terrible with guys vs. girls and we got stomped. Then, we had a meeting to go over the rules, we presented our skit to the interns and discussed VBS. They were very impressed and think it will go well. However, there are going to be WAY more kids than we expected in Rio San Juan (RSJ) - 100, and 50 in Bobita. Well, we'll make it work. It turns out the couple in charge of the center in RSJ, Ryan and Sandy, are ex-military and run a real tight ship. That will certainly help us out!

I was a little disappointed not to see Luisauny (the girl we sponsor) yet, nor many other Dominican teens. I suppose there will be time for that though. I just remember them being up playing with us the whole time last time and they're pretty scarce! We later would find out that Manna cracked down on them last year as they were hanging out and "mixing too much" with the kids (I think it was a guy/girl thing) so this year the kids are a bit shy about coming around.

Trying to get some sleep and thank God for this fan, as there is no breeze at all! However, although I may not be physically comfortable, I'm completely at peace and just feel full spiritually.

Using my language skills- NOT Spanish!! (en route part 2)

Traveling day one continued (Miami)

It is now almost midnight and I'm in bed (sharing with Emily), Lauren and Morgan have the other bed and the door is open to another room of girls (ReNay, Goldie, Kylie and Keelia). Sports are on TV and some girls are giggly having fun, others sleepy.Our hotel in the Miami airport is not terrible, but nothing special and certainly convenient. Getting everyone onto the free shuttle last time was stressful and with this many people (over twice as many) it would be likely impossible.

It is hard to believe it's the same day as this morning! For lunch in Chicago I had Chicago style pizza (so yummy) and Jeff had a Chicago style hot dog (we believe in eating according to wherever we're at when possible!) and the layover was just right. We had time for lunch, but not too much down time. Unfortunately once we were on the Miami flight, it was one thing after another: a broken seat they had to fix, our plane had hit a bird and broken the plane's nose, weather... so we finally took off a full hour behind schedule. We didn't mind the delay so much, as we didn't have a connecting flight, but stress ran high for those who did.

I have never been on such a large plane before- 40+ rows of 7 seats across, 2 aisles. I was seat 38b and Jeff was 38c, but the rows were staggered so we weren't even next to each other.

I was sitting by a guy from Italy! When I tried to make conversation, I realized his English was rough and he didn't quite sound Spanish-speaking. I was going to guess Italian before he told me! His name was Mario and he was originally from Messina, Sicily but is a chef in Manchester. His girlfriend is a native of Jamaica, where she lives, in fact that is where he was headed. I sure hope he made his connection, as it was going to be tight, but I don't suppose I'll ever know.

As you may know, I dabbled in learning Italian online a while back but it's been a good year since I've even thought about it. I have never actually conversed in Italian with anyone unless you could once via texting with Judith, and I had the benefit of lag as well as spell check/dictionary. Not so this time! My only hope was rephrasing, asking and hoping he knew the English or just letting it go. Words I forgot started coming back and rough though it was, we talked for hours! (we sat for 1 hour then the flight was 3+ hours) I translated flight directions (updates about the delays, etc) and helped explain to the flight attendants for him. I was very glad to have this language opportunity and was very proud of how I did, even though I know my Italian must be very pathetic. It's communication that matters, though!

The flight attendant must have overheard a little, so he addressed him in Portuguese. I guessed that's what he was speaking and informed him Mario spoke Italian, not Portuguese. However, I had heard a lady speaking to her kids behind me and thought she spoke Portuguese - so I suggested he may speak to her in Portuguese, and off they went! The guy in front of Jeff was reading a German magazine, so it was a pretty multi-lingual section to say the least! I love it!

We finally got to Miami around 6:30 and got settled in our hotel. Half of us were getting Subway and half wanted an adventure. Guess which I was? You know it! We went to La Carreta Cuban restaurant, which was pretty good, but suffered from the same issues "La Rosa" did - service was slow and the salad was pretty gross. The mango was canned and the under side of the table was caked with abc gum and the floor covered with food. The rice and beans were great, though! We did have our adventure, although with cabs, it was expensive, but I don't regret it. We talked to Hannah and hung out in the lobby a while chatting too. The girls are pretty silly but are settling down. It's midnight, but we just have to be in the lobby at 9. I love how no one has seemed clique-y. It's looking like a great trip so far!

En route, part 1

This time I was much less disciplined about journaling. Sometimes I wrote in Spanish, others in English. Last time I always did in Spanish, and this time I just went with whatever felt easier which was about half and half. Also, I jotted down bits here and there. I will need to fill in the gaps with my memory (this could be trouble, folks!).

Here we go!

Monday, July 8, 2015
This time the whole group arrived and left at almost the exact same time and we would land in Miami at 5:30pm. Our group would connect in Chicago and the other in Dallas.

We saw Nigel, another kid from Southwest who was on his way to Peru and it turns out Emily Kaissling's dad was flying to Malaysia on the same flight as the Dallas group. What a coincidence!

This time I thought I wasn't worrying and that I was so much more calm, but I'm not so sure.True, last time you may recall I was freaking out and had a rash all over my body. This time I was fine, then yesterday I just started feeling panicky. I prayed and breathed deeply, which helped, but it comes back when I stop.

Tonight I brought dinner (roast pork, strawberry shortcake) to Jeff's folks' house and we all shared a meal. We thought we'd drop off the fish and Hannah and be on our way, but ended up staying a few hours. Hannah who's all grown up at 13 and too cool for such things, actually asked for a group hug with Jeff and me and was as clingy as a teen can be with her parents and still maintain her dignity. This of course made it much harder for her guilt ridden parents who were dumping their one and only for a week and a half. The ride home was hard and we felt a little empty. We knew she was in good hands, though.

Thanks again to all of our amazing family (and friends) who cared for Hannah: Harley and Kathy, Lloyd and Mary, Jillian, Maddie Lou ;), Laurie, Caryn and Cory. You're the best!

Jeff and I both slept well, getting up at 5 and arriving at the airport check in just before 7. We parked in long term parking and rode the shuttle which ended up costing us almost $60. Now I know why I always get a ride to the airport!

Goldie was the first one there with everyone else arriving shortly after, the parents with small kids being the last ones just before 7:30. It must be so difficult to leave your small children so long!

Our plane was tiny and we were in the very last seats, right in front of the bathroom (row 18). We must have been right on top of the engines because we couldn't even carry on a conversation, it was so loud!

When the airplane took off, I just felt so light, it was as if all my worries just fell away and I was free. The panic was gone.

That will be all for today. Hard to believe I need a whole other day just to get past the first few hours of the day, but you'll see!

Mission to the DR 2015: It's time!

Well, I can't believe it's almost time. I don't feel like I'll ever be ready for the mission (supplies, preparing materials, packing), I'll just be done preparing when it's time to go!

It's just hitting me we leave in a few days and it just seems unreal. I'm panicking maybe more than a little, but there are just too many emotions, I can't even... seeing my goddaughter Luisauny, being reunited with all our friends, the kids at the children's home, and just seeing what God does to and through us.

My next update will likely be after we return. Thank you for your prayers for our missionary team and the beautiful Dominican people we plan to serve. Blessings to you!

If we only knew...

The nine year old son of a dear family from our church while on vacation far from home came down with encephalitis. He is currently in ICU fighting for his life. Through the Facebook message of a family member and emails from church, the prayer chain got going. I know this family has faith and trust their brothers and sisters in Christ are lifting them up to the Lord in prayer. However, I am quite sure they experienced something different this Sunday.

A minister from church gave the cell phone numbers of mom, dad, and grandma and everyone at Sunday morning service texted encouragement to them, right then and there. What must that have felt like? What overwhelming comfort! Our minister came up and shared at the end of service that grandma said we made the little boy smile. If only we could see all of the angels, all of the brothers and sisters in Christ praying for us and our times of sorrow, God's own arms around us. With faith's eye, we can. And as brothers and sisters to those who struggle, we can make it real with our presence and by reaching out. Go be His hands and feet today. ❤️

It's not my body

Don't worry, this has nothing to do with the raging controversy of women's rights vs. those of unborn children. I have no agenda. In fact, this is one of those times I'm writing just for me. My temptation is to not publish it, but just keeping it real, folks.

As you are aware, around two years ago I lost a bunch of weight and took up running. Well, slowly the pounds have been creeping on and my running has been suffering. All my running clothes look terrible on me and none of my jeans fit like I'd like (if at all). I swore this would never happen.

So, I started Weight Watchers again a month ago. It felt good to have that discipline back in my life that I need so much. The first week I lost 2 lbs. Okay, not bad, I figured it may be more than that considering how I usually roll, but okay. I have continued to follow the plan and have kicked up my running too. Before I honestly had gotten down to running 4 miles with my mom on Saturdays and maybe a 3-miler in the week, that's it. And what once were easy runs were about all I could take. Once I started WW, I began running almost every day 3-4 miles, once even 5! In fact that was so encouraging to me because I felt like maybe I couldn't do runs longer than 4 anymore. I'm heavier than I've ever been as a runner. But, I keep thinking, I'm following the plan, I'm exercising very regularly and intensely, this is going to change. The runs are getting a little easier! I'm going to be back in my clothes in no time!

This morning the scale tells me I'm up 1 lb. from where I started a month ago. Well, the scale doesn't matter, it's your clothes, right? Guess what, same story. My clothes are just as tight and my body doesn't look more toned either.

I'll give you one guess as to how I feel. It's not fair, right? I've been disciplined in my eating and exercise habits and this is the thanks I get? Well that was a waste of money and all that self-control, for what?

Feeling discouraged, I knew I needed to bring this to God today. I mean, it's Independence Day - family celebrations, remembering those who sacrificed it all for our country - today isn't about me, and right now I need some healing of my spirit before I can face the day.

So, I opened my bible to Romans 12. One of my very favorite verses is verse 2, you know the one- about not conforming to this world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds. But then I noticed the verse before it:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.

Whoa.Yes, I want to look good and fit into my clothes, but that is not why I need discipline in my eating and exercise habits. My body is not my own, I offer it as a living sacrifice to God. This is even an act of worship!

Worship.
My whole life, eating is my idol, my #1 sin you might say. Whether I'm eating for pleasure and hating my body or on a diet, obsessing over my body, I'm engaging in idol worship. Yes, I know this, yet I still struggle with it.

So where does this leave me today? Does this mean now that I know my focus has been off, I ask Him for forgiveness, and He rewards me with a better body? Maybe, but maybe not! I'm going to keep eating healthy, for satiety not just pleasure, keep exercising, caring for the temple He gave me. I'm going to cry out to Him when I'm feeling discouraged or empty, not food or a Diet Coke. I'm going to offer my body as a living sacrifice to God, to worship Him, not because I expect anything in return. Why?

Because my Father is so glorious and beautiful, He deserves all of our praise and sincerest worship.

Because I trust Him. He has done nothing but love me in the past, nothing but take what tiny gifts and sacrifices I have given Him and blessed me back a thousand times.

That was exactly what I needed today. Thank you, God! The pity party is over and I'm ready to be who I need to be today. God bless anyone who is reading this Independence Day!